The SPbPU key partner celebrates its centennial

Dear friend, President Professor Zhou Yu, dear colleagues, faculty and students of Harbin Institute of Technology!

Today you are celebrating a significant date – the 100th anniversary of your esteemed university. Back in 1920, when the Russian-Chinese school for training specialists in the field of railway transport was founded in Harbin, the highest educational standards of the Russian engineering school were laid in the foundation of the future institute. Relying on these fundamental principles and traditions, constantly improving, your institute have transformed by its centenary into one of the most outstanding universities in China, entering the world elite of engineering universities. Already in 1954, Harbin Institute of Technology became one of the six leading universities in China, in 1996 - one of the first to be included in the number of participants in the national "Project 211". Today, Harbin Institute of Technology, a member of the elite "League S9", is a stronghold of engineering education in the People's Republic of China. Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University is proud that our universities have had a long way together as friends and partners. As the leading technical university in Russia, Peter the Great Polytechnic University has always provided assistance and support to colleagues from the Harbin Polytechnic University, as well as your students and graduate students have been always welcome to come to study in our city.

Since 2000, our long-standing friendship has been officially shaped as a partnership agreement has been signed, student exchange process has intensified, and the cooperation between our researchers and faculty members has reached a new level. Joint internship programs for faculty members from Harbin, as well as educational programs for Masters’s Degree and graduate students have been successfully developing.

Harbin Institute of Technology has always been an international university, open to the whole world. SPbPU students, who took part in exchange programs in Harbin, keep warm remembrances of your hospitality, noting the high level of education, highly-qualified teachers, and the cutting-edge equipment of your laboratories. We greatly appreciate your attention and care in relation to each foreign student and try to create the same conditions for your students who come to study in Russia. Almost 8000 foreign students study at our university – and about 2500 from China, including the ones from Harbin Institute of Technology. This is a valuable sign of your trust, and we would like the traditions of hospitality, openness, and cultural ties to become the hallmark of our partnership for many years to come.

We greatly appreciate that in 2011 Harbin Institute of Technology in cooperation with a number of Russian universities, including Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, initiated the establishment of the Association of Sino-Russian Technical Universities (ASRTU). The Association has gathered together in a single network 67 elite universities, participants in national excellence programs, in Russia and China.

This initiative has opened a new chapter in the relationship between our two universities. We are grateful to Harbin Institute of Technology for the active position in organizing regular meetings, summits and conferences within the framework of the ASRTU, and in conducting humanitarian and scientific and technical events for students, faculty and researchers. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I cannot personally come to Harbin and congratulate you, dear friends, on the 100th anniversary. But I am sure that together we will overcome this difficult time and will soon return to the renewed world, revealing a new level and quality of our partnership and friendship. Today you are demonstrating to the whole world a modern approach to overcoming global challenges by organizing your anniversary celebration online! This experience of yours has shown the university’s readiness for transformations, flexibility and creativity of both the management team and the university staff. I am sure this celebration will bring you and all your partners around the world a lot of bright and positive emotions.

From the bottom of my heart I express my congratulations to you, dear President Professor Zhou Yu, and the overall staff of Harbin Institute of Technology on the 100th anniversary! I wish you all health, prosperity and inexhaustible energy for new achievements for the benefit of your university and the People's Republic of China. Move forward, towards the new century, and towards the new achievements!